British actress Kate O'Mara, star of U.S. TV soap 'Dynasty', dies

LONDON (Reuters) - British actress Kate O'Mara, best remembered in the United States for her role in long-running 1980s TV soap "Dynasty", died in England on Sunday aged 74, Phil Belfield, her agent, said.

O'Mara, who passed away after a short illness at a nursing home in the English county of Sussex, played Cassandra 'Caress' Morrell, the scheming sister of Alexis Colby (Joan Collins) in Dynasty, a soap opera that centered on the life of the wealthy and fictional Carrington family in Denver, Colorado.

Phil Belfield, her agent, said O'Mara had been an "extraordinary" woman whose energy and love for the theatre would be missed.

"A shining star has gone out and Kate will be dearly missed by all who knew and have worked with her," he said.

O'Mara, who once said her glamorous looks had helped drive her prolific career, began working as an actress in Britain in the 1960s, appearing on stage and in a number of TV shows.

In 1970, she had roles in two Hammer studio horror films. In the 1980s - apart from Dynasty - she starred in an ill-fated BBC soap opera called "Triangle", which was set aboard a North Sea ferry. Critics panned it as one of the worst things to be shown on British TV and it was cancelled after just three series.

O'Mara went on to appear in many other British TV series and plays. She also wrote two novels and two books touching on her own life.